Author Archives: admin

The Pain Of Google Mapping.

I hurt myself last night,

indirectly, in the harsh light of a 20 watt shadow

but instead of beating myself up

and seeing people who have wandered

in and out of my life,

their times and happiness running

through my head, I chose to quieten

them all by looking at Google Maps

and the places where my own happiness

briefly

once stood like a monument

in a desert occupied by barking dogs

and rivers

damned up long ago.

Never trust Time

to stand still for you,

Doctor Who: World Enough And Time. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, John Simm, Oliver Lansley, Paul Brightwell, Alison Lintott, Nicholas Briggs.

To the coy Mistress, all will come to pass when she meets her former self, till then “Had we but world enough, and time” then perhaps the puzzle and the death of a friend might be more easily dealt with but then nothing is that simple in the world of the two part finale and especially not in the realm of Time and the Doctor.

Museum Of Backward Hats, Melancholy. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Excitements, the feeling of raw power, of having a band play in your ears that know exactly when to lick the guitar string on the ear drum and perform with entanglement and a fist firmly clenched right up infront of your face; no malice, no sense of terror or unabridged alarm, this is just a group of musicians to whom the passion has become one of revolution and the smack of the great Punk ethic.

Andrea Stray, Into Blue. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Flirting with the American way can leave one tantalisingly close to feeling somewhat euphoric, it can leave the listener craving for more of the individual in a country that sometimes doesn’t recognise the need for the personal thought; a country of vast beauty and outstanding people, often ground down by the weight of expectation that hits home with every artist that sees others falling through the cracks and disappearing from view, from life.

Debbie Bond, Winds Of Change. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Of late it has seemed that if you are an artist of any creed, background or learning, it is possible that you will have had the seemingly inevitable rounds of criticism suggesting you should stay out of politics; that your sole function is to entertain and not have an opinion. It seems incongruous that an artist who perhaps might be able to be able to demonstrate a reasoned debate should be told to keep out of something, to be quiet and demure like some post Georgian debutant at her first outing.

Churchill. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell, Julian Wadham, Richard Durden, James Purefoy, Danny Webb, Jonathan Aris, George Anton, Steven Cree, Angela Costello, Peter Ormond, Kevin Findlay.

Tom Holt, The Management Style Of The Supreme Beings. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In days such as these when British politics is doing its level best to provide its own particular brand of satire and absurd-ism, laughter, a look into the eyes of the strangely bizarre and reasonably silly is all the more important; for all what life throws at us, we have to have the ability to look the script provided by the cosmic joker and laugh.

Bee Stings, Snake Bites And Nuclear Warfare.

The sharp pain, numb

after a fashion,

hit me like a snake bite,

a bullet from a concealed gun,

digging away into my head,

yet somehow keeping me alive,

forcing me to recognise this new

possible threat,

a moment to join the rest

of the doses

of passionate warfare

raging, skirmishing,

full blown nuclear assault,

in this tired, deserted body…

I could tear an advert free

stained white T-shirt in half

and wave it above my head, frantically

calling out, “Don’t shoot, I am

Cartoonopolis, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Lewis Bray.

To compare the same play by the same performer two years apart is to open yourself up to folly and yet as audience member rose in appreciation at the end of Lewis Bray’s magical return of his play Cartoonopolis, as they revelled as one in the life of boy to whom cartoons are a special friend, there can be no doubt that this is one of the most exceptional plays crowds are likely to see this year.

The Zoo Story, Theatre Review. The Casa, Liverpool. Liverpool Fringe Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Stephen O’Toole, David Crosby.

It may because of its bright lights, the allusion to a sense of greatness that comes with size and popularity with visitors but to feel totally at ease with yourself in New York City can feel emotionally blissful; to sit and listen to the tales of group of a million random voices, all unique, all frightening, dazzlingly inspired voices complaining, laughing, being scared of the dark in a city to whom illumination is a watch word of enlightenment, it can only be satisfying if you are on the edge taking in the wonder of the finest circus, the greatest zoo ever conceived.